The Prince (1513) and Discourses on the First
Decade of Totus Livius (1516)

In these political pamphlets Machiavelli formed a new
political theory developed through observation of the early 16th century
Italian city-states where authority depended solely on the cunning and
effective use of force.

Before Machiavelli, medieval government had fused religion and politics:

The social hierarchy reflected the divine
order of the cosmos.

Political power was derived from God.

Government officials, therefore, were
obligated to model the highest moral character.

The Prince should strive to uphold and
enforce the divine commandments as revealed by the church
and, thereby, help their subjects attain salvation.

A.) Machiavelli had no patience with theories that
sought to shape political life in accordance with ideal standards.
When relying on humble, contemplative Christians to run governments,
society had been plunged into anarchy and confusion. Indeed, Machiavelli
argued that utopian visions would bring ruin to the state. Instead, the
prince should do whatever is necessary to protect the state from the
unruly passions of his subjects as well as foreign. Machiavelli admired
the exceptional Roman leaders who not only possessed the personal
ambition, courage, strength, to seize and hold power but also possessed
the cunning, civic responsibility and patriotism to rule wisely.

B.) Even so, Machiavelli had a bleak vision of human
nature: most men were naturally selfish, corrupt, cowardly,
faithless, base, dishonest, and violent. To control the human appetite
for acquisition and dominance, deception and coercion were necessary.
Only through coercion could a Prince maintain order.

C.) The state is an entirely natural entity governed
by scientific laws. Machiavelli arrived at his conclusions through
the empirical analysis of data and from his study of history. He freed
himself from any illusions about the practicality of ideal societies or
divine standards. He was the first political scientist.

D.) "The end justifies the means." All
means are permitted the prince if the state's survival is at stake.
Machiavelli argued that rulers who tried to govern using compassion and
moral good needlessly exposed themselves to violent betrayal. Instead of
using moral standards, the ruler should logically analyze the situation
and take whatever action necessary to secure his rule. Only in that way
could the stability of the state be assured and the safety of the
people. Only blunders, not crimes are unpardonable. The wise
prince gives the appearance of being good, for such a pretense will help
him govern, but when the situation calls for action, he should be
prepared to abandon all virtue.

Notes from the Introduction to the Portable
Machiavelli: An Essay on Machiavelli: (1978) Bondanella and Musa

Livy's History of Republican Rome and Plutarch's Lives
provided the models for Machiavelli's vision of statecraft and his faith in
citizen soldiers instead of mercenaries. Machiavelli tempers his respect
for the golden words of the past by subjecting their ideas to practical
test in the arena of Florentine politics.

Machiavelli rose to high political position (Secretary
in the Chancery) as part of the faction that took power in Florence
after the execution of Girolamo Savanarola (1498); for Machiavelli,
Savanrola was the epitome of the unarmed prophet doomed to failure.
Cesare Borgia, the warrior son of Pope Alexander VI, provided his model
for the Prince: a leader of boldness, resolution and cunning.

virtu- Instead of defining virtue
according to Christian values, Machiavelli defined virtue as
ability or ingenuity which combined with fortune led to
success.

In 1512 Machiavelli was arrested and tortured by the
Medici when his mentor Piero Solderini was overthrown. Machiavelli was
exiled to the country and began his literary career.

The occasion for the writing of The Prince: the
good fortune of the Medici family to have a Pope on the throne in Rome
while a family member also controlled Florence and Tuscany. Machiavelli
saw an opportunity for the formation of a central government strong
enough to resist the unending invasions which kept Northern Italy in a
permanent state of war with factions allying with and against each other
as they jockeyed for power.

1561 The publication of Franesco Guicciardini's History
of Italy redefines the public persona of the Borgias as the
incestuous perpetrators of legendary homicides: atheism, treachery,
perversion and 'Machiavellian politics'.

Themes of The Prince:

The nature of man
The question of free will
The importance of individual virtu
The role of fortuna in human affairs:
replacing Christian Providence
The moral attributes of the prince
The proper goals of revolutionaries

Machiavelli's famous dictum "The end justifies the
means." is really a misreading of a passage in Chapter 18 in which
he argues that one must consider the final result in any political
action. He is not justifying any and all actions that serve political
ends. At one point in Chapter VIII he describes Agathocles, the tyrant
of Syracuse, "it cannot be called virtu to kill one's fellow
citizens, to betray friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without
religion; by these means one can acquire power but not glory."
Rather, Machiavelli argues that a successful leader must at times act
outside the boundaries of traditional ethical restraints.

On Romulus' murder of Remus (from The Discourses I,
ix):

"It is indeed fitting that while the action accuses
him, the result excuses him; and when this result is good, as it is with
Romulus, it will always excuse him; for one should reproach a man who is
violent in order to destroy, not one who is violent in order to mend
things."

If violence is committed in the interest of the people
rather than private advantage, then it is good.

He half agrees with Pico della Mirandolla that humans
rule at least part of their destiny. Fortune smiles like a lady on the
energetic and ambitious young man. And the occasion will then arise when
a man can take action that not only furthers his ambitions but also
leads to a more stable and secure state. Like the occasion that the
Medici encounter in 1513.

Machiavelli preferred a republican state, not an
authoritarian one, but in the specific context of 1513, and the Medici's
opportunity to eject foreign invaders from Italy, he could support the
idea of a single authority, a prince.

Machiavelli and Human Nature:

Machiavelli emphasizes the political protagonist in his
book, not broader socio-economic forces; therefore, his assessment of
human nature is central to his philosophy. He draws a similar picture of
human nature as earlier Christian theologians who judged human nature to
be corrupt, but Machiavelli drew different conclusions: Machiavelli
concludes that human nature is irremediably bad: men are selfish, driven
by an insatiable desire for material gain, and cannot be trusted unless
that trust is based on fear. Man is also gullible and easily deceived by
appearances. Rather than draw pessimistic conclusions about the
possibilities for social harmony, Machiavelli argues that this constant
and unchanging situation makes it possible to predict and thus control
the behavior of people. The use of reason can allow rulers who are
mentally tough enough to organize, collect, study and use their
understanding of human nature as the basis for wise decisions. An
empirical science of politics could be constructed by using reason to
evaluate the mistakes of past rulers. He also identified politics with
conflict and regarded social conflict of a certain kind as a positive
force.

The didactic value of studying human history:

Renaissance men should 'return to the past' in order to
find positive examples. The artistic and cultural renaissance could be
extended to the more practical realm of political affairs. He did not
believe in progress as we do, influenced by the Enlightenment and the
Romantics. The state could become a work of art, the product of
conscious social planning on a purely secular level.

Politics as Conflict:

1. Human nature is naturally acquisitive and insatiable
in its desires.
2. Fortune prevents most men from having sufficient virtu to
obtain all of what they desire: a universal principle of economic
scarcity.
3. Combine both ideas and conflict is the inevitable result.

Conspiracies, invasions and wars are thus natural
phenomena. Such conflict might produce beneficial results in a properly
organized government with stable political institutions. Machiavelli
sought to refute the traditional claim that a republic was an inherently
unstable institution. A mixed form of government was preferable to
principality, aristocracy, and democracy which would degenerate
respectively into tyranny, oligarchy and anarchy.

In the Roman Republic, a healthy body politic was
characterized by friction and social conflict: the friction between
plebeians and aristocrats. He proposed a dynamic equilibrium between
these forces rather than a false stability based on repression.

The Inevitability of War:

the place of military affairs is paramount. Military
strength is the paramount virtue: self-sufficiency and the ability to
field an army against combined enemies. Good laws cannot exist without
good armies. Free republican governments cannot exist without a
citizen's militia: a bulwark against tyrannical power and a school to
teach civic responsibility and patriotism.

Corruption and civic instability: individual virtu
is replaced by social ordini as the key idea: institutions,
constitutions and organization of the state. Ancient Rome's pagan
emphasis on guaranteeing oaths and instilling courage: religion as a
means of political control vs. Christianity's glorification of humility.
Concentration of wealth in the few. Factions arise when a private
citizen acquires excessive power, influence or wealth and employs it for
private ends. Rome developed institutions which channeled the conflict
between haves and have nots.

In Florence conflicts typically arose between members of
the same class. Institutions enable the various members of a society to
express their interests without resorting to faction. Machiavelli also
depended upon the heroic action of an individual leader to safeguard the
interests of the society as a whole rather than his personal ambition or
the success of an individual faction. Machiavelli supported the idea of
using a dictator with unlimited powers as long as he did not seek to
modify the ordini of the state or seek an unlimited time in
power. Republican institutions are unsuited to dealing with rapidly
developing problems such as an invasion, so a dictatorship is merely a
safety valve to safeguard republican institutions.

Summary:
First: a political thinker who established the theoretical autonomy of
politics, separate from ethics and theology.
Second: the first empirical political scientist, as influential as
Galileo in his own field.